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Alright, Based on Input, my updated build. Buying in 24 hours

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Anything anyone would change? I'm pretty much at my upper limit as far as cost goes. I weighed the options of E8400 vs Q6600 and decided to go with the Q6600 since it will probably be 3-4 years before I buy another computer and if stuff comes out that uses the Quad in the next 2 years I'd like to be ready for it. Everything was spec'd out through Newegg.

Product Description Unit Price Savings Total Price

Case COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-WW Black/Silver Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$49.99 after -$5.00 Instant savings
Model #: CAC-T05-WW
Item #: N82E16811119077

Mobo GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail
$89.99 after -$10.00 Instant savings
Model #: GA-P35-DS3L
Item #: N82E16813128059

Graphics Card MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
$199.99 after -$10.00 Instant savings & $20 MIR
Model #: NX8800GT 512M OC
Item #: N82E16814127329

PSU Antec NeoPower 550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply - Retail
$74.99 after -$35.00 Instant savings
Model #: NEOHE 550
Item #: N82E16817103941

Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
$275.99
Model #: BX80562Q6600
Item #: N82E16819115017

Memory G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK - Retail
$99.99 after -$40.00 Instant savings
Model #: F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK
Item #: N82E16820231148

HD Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$119.99
Model #: ST3500320AS
Item #: N82E16822148288
other Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
$5.99
Model #: ARCTIC SILVER 5
Item #: N82E16835100007

Total: $916.92

More about : alright based input updated build buying hours

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When are you going to build this? If you're going to wait 3 weeks to a month, wait and see if the Q9540 surfaces. It's the 45nm version of the Q6600 which would last you a bit longer if for no other reason than the extra OC'ing headroom. *edit* It also comes clocked slightly higher -- I believe it's 2.66-2.8Ghz.

All your other choices seem pretty wise to me. Just FYI, there's a pretty good deal on the 500W OCZ StealthXtream PSU. It's like 49.99 after MIR and would still provide plenty of power for your build.

Quote:
other Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
$5.99
Model #: ARCTIC SILVER 5
Item #: N82E16835100007


If you're not buying an aftermarket cooler or planning on constantly removing your CPU cooler, you shouldn't need this. The retail Q6600 should come with paste pre-applied that should perform on part with AC5. If you want some thermal compound for insurance though... I'd take a look at MX-II or Shin Etsu. They actually perform better than AC-5... AC-5 just has a more popular name. :p  **If you are overclocking, you'll definitely want to invest in an after market cooler for 2.8Ghz+**
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Thanks for the info on that power supply.

I am not planning to overclock at this point, but I wanted to buy the parts that would allow it in the future if I wanted to... if I decide to later, then I'll pick up a bigger cooling unit for the CPU, but for now I'm not going to worry about it. Thanks for the advice on the arctic silver too. I just added that by default because the last machine I built was my prescott 3.2ghz and I remember the thing overheating out of the box. I ended up having to drench it in arctic silver and bought a huge brick of copper to sit on top of it :)  Yah, it's been awhile since I've built a PC, so I'm way behind the power curve. The people at Tom's have made it painless to jump right back into it though. You guys Rock! :D  :D  :D 

Right now I'm going 32 bit XP, but in the future I may add another 4GB of memory and go to 64 Bit Vista.

Quote:
I just added that by default because the last machine I built was my prescott 3.2ghz and I remember the thing overheating out of the box
Understandable. Prescott's were terrible in the thermal dept. The Q6600's are a little warm, but check and see if you can find a G0 stepping version. It requires less power and therefor runs a little cooler. (I think clubit.com may still guarantee that revision -- newegg, to my knowledge is still hit or miss) Sometimes the G0 is referred to as SLACR or mentioning something about low wattage consumption. Anyways, it's worth the extra time and effort to find that version of the chip. :p 

well only one thing i can see

" Graphics Card MSI NX8800GT 512M OC GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
$199.99 after -$10.00 Instant savings & $20 MIR
Model #: NX8800GT 512M OC
Item #: N82E16814127329 "

it is a good card, but buying the OC version of it is useless IMO. they do charge more for the fact it is OCed. you are spending the money to have someone else OC it when its something you can do for free.
OCing your Vid card is very easy to do. just it consumes about an hour of your day to OC it the right way. just food for thought.... see what the cost of the NON OC card would cost. mite save you a few dallors.
As RGEIST554 said try and find the G0 stepping CPU, the one site i know that promis all CPU's are g0 stepping can be found at www.clubIT.com

Dan_P said:

it is a good card, but buying the OC version of it is useless IMO. they do charge more for the fact it is OCed. you are spending the money to have someone else OC it when its something you can do for free.


honestly, I wouldn't feel comfortable manually overclocking the graphics card. Plus, I really like the extra heat sick/fan that this one comes with. I'll look into that clubit site.

Amazon also claims to only ship the G0, and they have free shipping (and I've got an account already, which is a plus) w/ shipping from clubit the price is $1 cheaper from amazon, wooooo
From Amazon's site
Amazon is only shipping the Q6600 with confirmed BX80562Q6600 SLACR, with G0 stepping

it is a good card, but buying the OC version of it is useless IMO.

Except for the fact that it has an improved cooler, and is the cheapest 8800GT out there, you might have had a point.

The price point on the 9600gt is not particularly appealing, IMO.

Quote:
honestly, I wouldn't feel comfortable manually overclocking the graphics card. Plus, I really like the extra heat sick/fan that this one comes with. I'll look into that clubit site.

Amazon also claims to only ship the G0, and they have free shipping (and I've got an account already, which is a plus) w/ shipping from clubit the price is $1 cheaper from amazon, wooooo
From Amazon's site
Amazon is only shipping the Q6600 with confirmed BX80562Q6600 SLACR, with G0 stepping


Nice with the G0 stepping. As for the 8800GT, just stick with it. That dual-slot aftermarket cooler is worth it, and as far as I can tell $199 after rebates is a damn good price for an 8800GT. Also, if I'm not mistaken, aren't all the MSI cards being bundled with The Witcher? If so, that's just an added bonus. :p 

Quote:
you know the 9600gt just came out today on newegg. mite want to look at those. they are kinda cheap in price too
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] ion=9600GT

They're still rated to perform on par or below that of an older G80 8800GTS 320MB. I'd still say the higher end GT would work better. Don't get me wrong, the 9600 is by no means bad. It just starts to take a rather large dive when AA is applied to the situation.

einstein4pres said:
it is a good card, but buying the OC version of it is useless IMO.

Except for the fact that it has an improved cooler, and is the cheapest 8800GT out there, you might have had a point.

The price point on the 9600gt is not particularly appealing, IMO.


my point was, that IMO i find it useless to buy an already OC card. why pay someone to do something on a card that you can do yourself. Also to add. if i would have said that the cooling was bad or the price was way to much. then i could understand your comment about " i mite have had a point " my point was made pretty clear. Why buy an OCed card when you can do it yourself and it mite save you some money.
Then Unkynd psoted back saying he wouldnt feel right doing it himself.

understand my point??

Quote:
my point was, that IMO i find it useless to buy an already OC card. why pay someone to do something on a card that you can do yourself. Also to add. if i would have said that the cooling was bad or the price was way to much. then i could understand your comment about " i mite have had a point " my point was made pretty clear. Why buy an OCed card when you can do it yourself and it mite save you some money.
Then Unkynd psoted back saying he wouldnt feel right doing it himself.
I think your previous comment was just misinterpreted as this card being a bad deal for the money, or at the very least, there was a better deal out there.

on the StealthXtream power supply, there is an extra $8.42 for shipping, the NeoPower has free shipping. Which means the "real" cost difference between the 2 is $16.78. Is it still worth switching to the Stealth?

500W OCZ StealthXtream PSU $61.99 + $8.22 shipping - $12 rebate = $58.21

Antec NeoPower ATX12V 550W $74.99 w/ free shipping

50W isn't going to make a big difference. Even if you wanted to save it for a future build, that 50W wouldn't matter much.

Your system will probably only require 325-400W (idle -> load). This is just a rough estimate, so you've still got plenty of headroom. However, if you your going to consider SLI in the sure then you'll want a 620-750W PSU.

nah, not going SLI with this PC. maybe in 4-5 years if vid cards have topped out and the only way to get more performance is to add more vid cards :) 

so, i'm going to drop the arctic silver. drop the psu. pick up the stealth psu. and order the proc from amazon to make sure I get the G0.

You guys have been very helpful :)  Thanks!! If anyone thinks of anything else let me know.

Unkynd.... truthfuly i think the part about me building my own system was wich PSU and Vid card. With the vid card i was always confused about do i get the GT or GTS or GTs (g92) or GTX. if i run SLI do i want 3 cards or only 2. if i run 3 then what PSU will i need to get for watts. this is a very confusing part of the build. but once it is done it is a great feeling! When you get it finished, post some pics of the final build
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